Biden To Vancouver, Stops Off To Campaign For Murray

Vice President Joe Biden is traveling to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but on the way to British Columbia he'll stop off to campaign for Sen. Patty Murray (D) in Washington, who faces a reelection race that could potentially be tougher than expected in 2010.

Biden is scheduled to attend an event for Murray at 8 a.m. Pacific.

Murray's race has not, generally, been on analysts' radar as a top
competitive campaign in 2010, but in late January a Republican polling
firm based in Portland found Murray
trailing a potential GOP challenger, former (unsuccessful) gubernatorial
candidate Dino Rossi, 45% to 43% with 9% undecided.

Rossi has not announced a bid for Murray's seat, and Murray had a solid
$5.1 million in her campaign war chest at the end of 2009; she's still
favored to win reelection. It won't be clear just how competitive her
race is until more polling comes out (the aforementioned survey is the
only major one available on her race).

After the event for Murray, Biden will deliver remarks at the Olympic kick-off event for U.S. athletes in Vancouver and attend the opening ceremony.

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Chris Good is a political reporter for ABC News. He was previously an associate editor at The Atlantic and a reporter for The Hill.